This is kind of a long shot, but this board is to be pretty worldly so I thought it was worth a try.
My wife and I have a potential opportunity to work in Abu Dhabi for a few years after she finishes her residency in internal medicine – her father has connections over there. He makes it sound like Shangri-La (pardon the inappropriate religio-historical metaphor), but he tends to be a bullshitter and his knowledge of working conditions for people in our fields (medicine for my wife, academics for me) is all second- or third-hand.
We want to know what it would be like for us to work there. In particular, my wife is concerned about how a woman working in medicine would be viewed. I know there are a lot of expats there and that it’s generally pretty liberal (by Middle-East standards at least), but it wouldn’t be fun if she feels like she always has to watch out for the disapproval of conservative Muslims.
Kind of an obscure question, I realize, but that’s why getting answers is so hard. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
If anyone is so inclined, I’m also interested in broader discussions of what life is like there for expats in our fields – community life, family-friendliness (we have 1 toddler + a 1-inch fetus), stuff to do, etc.